Key Takeaways
- • All Raise reports that women held 18.8% of venture partner titles in 2025, surpassing its 18% goal, yet women led only 12.6% of deals and held 11.2% of board seats, according to Fortune.
- • Women and people of color in U.S. venture controlled just 1.4% of assets under management, per the same data.
- • At firms with more than $1 billion in AUM, 25% of women with partner titles hold advisory or non-voting roles, versus 14.8% of men.
- • All Raise CEO Paige Hendrix Buckner says "Title has moved faster than power in the industry," prompting the group to redefine power beyond titles.
- • All Raise is now evaluating deal count, board seats, deal attribution, and membership of internal investment committees as possible metrics.
Summary
All Raise, the venture-focused organization founded in 2017 to increase women's influence in Silicon Valley, has concluded that promotion counts alone do not measure power. When the group was founded, women held 9% of partner roles in venture. In 2018 it set a goal of doubling that to 18%, and it surpassed the target in 2025 with 18.8% of partnership roles held by women, according to Fortune.
The underlying data, however, show a gap between title and influence. Women led only 12.6% of deals and held 11.2% of board seats. Women and people of color in U.S. venture controlled just 1.4% of assets under management. At firms with more than $1 billion in AUM, 25% of women with partner titles were in advisory or non-voting roles, compared with 14.8% of men. Such women may hold a title without authority to write checks or earn carried interest, and may not always receive formal credit for deals they source. Fortune notes that deal attribution to top partners is common in venture but appears to affect women more.
All Raise CEO Paige Hendrix Buckner said the realization that "having a title doesn't mean you have power and influence" has shifted the organization's focus. Rather than tracking progression to partner roles, All Raise is seeking a new definition of power. There is unlikely to be a single metric, and the group is examining deal count, board seats, deal attribution, and who sits on firms' internal investment committees, a process that is not always transparent.
Fortune also reports that more than 300 women are leading their own firms, though only one in 20 said being passed over for promotion was the reason they left to start one.
The underlying data, however, show a gap between title and influence. Women led only 12.6% of deals and held 11.2% of board seats. Women and people of color in U.S. venture controlled just 1.4% of assets under management. At firms with more than $1 billion in AUM, 25% of women with partner titles were in advisory or non-voting roles, compared with 14.8% of men. Such women may hold a title without authority to write checks or earn carried interest, and may not always receive formal credit for deals they source. Fortune notes that deal attribution to top partners is common in venture but appears to affect women more.
All Raise CEO Paige Hendrix Buckner said the realization that "having a title doesn't mean you have power and influence" has shifted the organization's focus. Rather than tracking progression to partner roles, All Raise is seeking a new definition of power. There is unlikely to be a single metric, and the group is examining deal count, board seats, deal attribution, and who sits on firms' internal investment committees, a process that is not always transparent.
Fortune also reports that more than 300 women are leading their own firms, though only one in 20 said being passed over for promotion was the reason they left to start one.
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